A little bit of history from the High Church otherwise known as Oakshaw Trinity Church, all information is on their website, http://oakshawtrinity.org

High Church
1843-1994

From the Reformation until 1736, the Abbey was the only church in the burgh and parish of Paisley. During that year, however, the Laigh Kirk was built in New Street, followed by the High Kirk in 1754, adding a significant feature to Paisley’s skyline, especially when the steeple was erected between 1767 and 1770.

In 1872, the Town Council promoted a Bill of Parliament “to secure by legislative enacment the town’s financial affairs”. This Bill proposed to pay each of the ministers of the town’s three churches £266-13s-4d per annum, being one third of the interest of 4% on £20,000, the sum in which the churches ranked in the estate of the Burgh.

Over the intervening years, extensive repairs involving excavating, asphaltic for ventilation and dry-rot prevention, erection of light cast-iron pillars to support the balcony, new seating and pulpit, hot water heating, new ornamental ceiling, plastering of all walls, a new entrace to the north side as well as new stairs to both sides of the gallery formed the grand scheme.

Substantial refurbishment was undertaken in the final years of the century in concert with the organ installation and re-siting of the original church hall, opened in 1880, now recognised as too small to cater for the needs of an expanded congregation. After negotiation for adjoining land in Oakshaw Street, the long-awaited new church hall was built in 1913 at a cost of £2000. The Session House was used for the first time that year, and the initial suite completed with the McLachlan Hall in 1924.

The complex was eventually extended by the gift of the Hutcheson School by William Lang, in memory of his sister, Margaret, in 1935. Incandescent lighting was installed in the church in 1906 and electric lighting in 1935 and 1967. The gift of a sound system was donated anonymously in 1971.